Fifteen students discovered their talents and challenges as they worked to complete and publish the book, "Suceeding Secrets at Okatie Elementary."

The students divvied up tasks into groups of writers, publishers, illustrators and typers to create a collection of survival tips that will help students not only at Okatie Elementary School, but at every elementary, middle and high school.

Presented as a work of fiction, the story begins when three friends discover a book of survival tips buried on the playground.

After Victoria Moxley, Bob McFlob and Lil' Drew discover the book, they proceed to enjoy their best school year yet, with improved grades and more success with friends too.

The tips include such advice as "Come prepared to class with supplies you need each day and an attitude to learn. Your job is to be the best student you can" and "Stay with your real friends, not the phonies. Your real friends care about you through thick and thin, whereas the phonies couldn't care less."

Throughout the year, the writers brainstormed rich, complex plots, but struggled to agree on one story, said their teacher, Jessica Deckert. Eventually, the students simplified the plot. The resulting collection of tips reads as an entertaining story with colorful illustrations, and is likely to be oft-checked-out from the school library.

Not only will the book help future students at Okatie put their best foot forward, but it will give graduated gifted and talented students a hardcopy momento of their fifth-grade year.

"I'd love for them to have something to remember Okatie," Deckert said. "They'll be able to read their story to their children."

Deckert won a grant in October from the Palmetto Electric Prize patrol that allowed her students to brainstorm, write, edit and finally publish the hardcover book.

Missy Santorum, public relations manager for Palmetto Electric, said that the idea for the prize patrol originated in North Carolina. Palmetto Electric President and CEO Tom Upshaw was intrigued, and sent she and Vice President Marketing and PR Jimmy Baker on a prize patrol with Coastal Electric Cooperative in Midway, Ga.

Deckert was one of 42 teachers to win money for classroom projects from Palmetto Electric Trust and Palmetto Electric Cooperative this October as part of the most recent round of Bright Ideas grants.

Palmetto Electric Cooperative members help fund the grants when they participate in Operation Round Up, rounding their monthly payments up to the nearest dollar. The cooperative also garners funds through its Million Dollar Hole-In-One Shootout fundraiser, and Women Involved in Rural Electrification (WIRE) chapters contribute $1,000 annually to Bright Ideas.

Since the program began, Palmetto Electric has awarded $30,000 to schools in Bluffton and Hilton Head and in Jasper County. The maximum awards are $1,000 per classroom project.